This is a brief list of anti-racist books, focused on books we have digital access to while the library is closed. We also want to make a particular point to call out the years of work done by Whitman students through their theses to explore and contend with police brutality, anti-blackness, and race through a variety of prisms and disciplines.

Reading lists are inherently a passive solution to a problem. As white library workers, we can feel like they absolve us by creating them. However, we still need to do the reading ourselves, and we hope others join us. One way to hold yourself accountable to doing the work is creating a reading group with friends, family, neighbors, or other communities to work through texts together. It’s also important to acknowledge that having time to read is a privilege, and even with the time, many of us do not have the attention spans or mental energy to engage in reading right now. You may find something like the Justice in June calendar useful to engage at the level that you are able to.

Black Thought and Culture contains 1,303 sources with 1,210 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets, letters and other fugitive material. Includes the complete run of the Black Panther Party newspaper.

In collaboration with students in Library 160: Documentation and Representation in Archives, the Whitman College and Northwest Archives is creating a digital archive of the Whitman community’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we move classes online, work, teach and learn from home, and practice social distancing, our normal experiences and routines have been displaced and disrupted. We hope to collect the stories, experiences, and evidence of our changed lives, both the painful and difficult, and the unexpectedly beautiful and hopeful.

You can view submissions to the digital archive in ARMINDA, our institutional repository.

How to participate

You can record your experience in whatever format is comfortable for you. Some options include:

Writing: letters, emails, diary-entries, blog posts, rants, etc.

Images: what is the view from where you are? Photos, screen captures of social media posts, digital art produced in reaction to the current situation

Audio files: voice memos, phone-interviews with a friend (note: make sure you have consent of all parties before recording them), music, podcast

Videos clips: short recordings of your daily life or routines; Zoom, Google Meet, or other video conference recordings (note: make sure you have consent of all parties before recording them)

Other things you can think of: be creative! What would you like to be saved now so that Whitman students in 5 or 50 years can understand the moment we are currently living through?

Keep in mind that we want to collect material that gives evidence of your personal experience, or that of others in the Whitman Community, not national news stories, media reports, or other types of material that are best documented elsewhere.

Questions and themes we hope to explore include:

How students, faculty and staff are transitioning to remote teaching and learning

How social distancing is impacting our lives

What is the changing nature of faculty, staff and student work, on- or off-campus

How you are staying in touch and communicating with friends and family

Please comply with county and state stay-at-home orders, and practice social distancing, while self-documenting.

Submitting Material to the Archive

We can accept material in most common formats. But if you have questions, please direct them to [email protected].

Materials submitted to the project will be retained in the Archives and made available to researchers under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, which will allow others to share and adapt the material while crediting the creator(s) of the material.

Please use this Google Form to submit your items. You will be able to sign an agreement allowing the Archives to preserve your submission, and you will receive important information about the copyright and use of your content.

If you interview other people in the course of your documentation, or if any materials are co-created by you and another person, we will also need their permission so that we can preserve and share your materials with future researchers. Please have all co-creators fill out this form. If we do not receive releases from all participants we cannot preserve the materials. But only one person will need to attach the files to the form — co-creators can simply fill in their personal information along with a description of the materials.

This winter, Penrose is getting a sustainability upgrade. We appreciate your patience while work crews convert all lighting to energy-efficient LED lamps. Please watch out for ladders and work crews. During this process, lights may also be turning on and off. This changed will reduce energy consumption of the lighting system by about 50%.

Penrose Library hours between Fall semester 2019 and Spring semester 2020 will be as follows:

Friday Dec. 20: close at 5 pm

Dec. 21 – Jan. 1: CLOSED

Jan. 2 – Jan. 3: 9 am to 5 pm

Jan. 4 – Jan. 5: CLOSED

Jan. 6 – Jan. 10: 9 am to 5 pm

Jan. 11 – Jan. 12: CLOSED

Jan. 13 – Jan. 19: 9 am to 5 pm

Jan. 20: 9 am to 10 pm

Jan. 21: 8 am; resume 24 hours

Please note: The Whitman College Northwest Archives will be closed January 6-10, 2020 for a major collections maintenance project. There will be no public access to archival collections, the reading room, or reference services during this time. We anticipate that normal hours and services will resume on Monday, January 13.

Are you writing a thesis? Librarians are here to help! Want to make a research plan? Unsure about the difference between an annotated bibliography and a literature review? Feel like you’re having a hard time figuring out sources? Need a citation management tool? We can help with all of these, and more!

Here are a couple things to know:

1. Our thesis page is your go-to place for all thesis info, including including citation management tools and how you can download Word for free.

2. Librarians are available and happy to help with any questions you may have, and you can find our contact info here.

We have office hours in the library from 9-12, 1-5 Monday through Friday. Just look for the Research Help sign to find the right office (all near the circulation desk). You can also schedule an appointment with one of us if you would like. In November we will be hosting drop-in help sessions.

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the graduation of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1920), we have an exciting new exhibit on the Second Floor (Main Level) in Justice Douglas’s honor. The exhibit uses materials from the Whitman College and Northwest Archives to highlight aspects of Douglas’s legal career, work on the environment, and lifelong connection to Whitman. Along with photos and textual materials documenting his work on the Supreme Court, we also have on display every book from his prolific work as a writer. It was curated by David F. Schmitz, Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History, and Rachel Glover, Class of 2019, with the assistance of Dana Bronson, Associate Archivist, and Emily Pearson, Instructional and Research Services Librarian. The exhibit will remain up through the Fall 2020.

Penrose Library made several changes over the summer and we want to keep you informed. You may be wondering:

Where are the board games and popular literature collections?

We have moved these collections to the main (2nd) floor alcove near the films. Popular literature can be checked out for six weeks, films and board games can be borrowed for six days. We are still working on updating our floor maps.

Where is the art?

Penrose got an interior paint job this summer. Art will be curated (new pieces! different locations!) and installed by the Sheehan Gallery staff.

What’s happening with printing?

In a continuing effort by WCTS to offer no cost black and white printing and reduce paper waste, GoPrint has undergone big changes. After sending your job to print from a library computer or your personal computer, you then log on to a print release station to release your print job. Watch the process in action at this video. You can find more information on set-up here. For further assistance, please contact [email protected], or the WCTS Help Desk ([email protected] or x4976).

What if I have a question that isn’t listed here?

Just ask! All library staff is here to help and the circulation desk is staffed during our open hours. We also have a library FAQ online.

On Tuesday, Oct. 1, from 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Penrose Library and the Art Department will host a reception for Peter Newland ’67 and Robyn Johnson. Longtime collectors of artists’ books, Newland and Johnson will be donating a portion of their collection to increase the book arts holdings of the Whitman College and Northwest Archives, and establishing an endowment to support the development of the collection. The reception will be followed by an interactive open house featuring books from their collection. Faculty, staff, students, community members and kids are all welcome. We hope you can join us for this special event.